Wells Fargo Championship

One of the biggest events here in Charlotte is the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow. Everyone looks forward to it and the town seems to be buzzing with excitement the week of the event. James got tickets for the practice round and invited Annie and me to tag a long. It was a warm and wet day in the southeast. (And yes, that is exactly what my hair looks like on warm humid days. Humidity is not my friend.) I can't tell you how amazing the transformation from winter to summer is here. It's as if one day the whole place goes from brown to green in one big poof. The day of the tournament we could hardly believe all the green. 

We only had time for a morning on the course so we made the most of it. I've never seen a more perfectly groomed course. It was beautiful and everything was precisely organized. We saw several big name golfers (unfortunately, Tiger dropped out the day before) but the biggest highlight was watching James as a proud Dad. My favorite line of the day, "She gets more attention than the pros." Boy do we love time with this guy.

In 365 Days

They say time passes quickly when you have children. They are right. She grew up before our eyes. I can't believe the changes. 

Annie :: 12 Months Old

Here we are. We have officially made it to the end of the monthly posts. My baby is one. While Nana Barker was here she taught Annie how to hold up her finger after you say, "Annie, how old are you?" We get this question a lot as this tiny pistol runs all over. It is hilarious to watch Annie hold up her little pointer in response. Just one more reason I am realizing our new reality. We have a one-year-old. We have a toddler. And boy do we love her.

Besides her go-go mentality, Annie has the sweetest disposition. Anytime I am on her level she will give me loves. She kisses James and I constantly and even loved on her Nana Staples continually while she was here. She is a lovie girl. 

Walk, run, walk, sit, stand, open, close... move, move, move! That is what we are up to around here. I have a full blown toddler on my hands. Annie is all over the place. People still get quite the kick out of it because she is the size of most 8-month-olds. She is starting to run a little and we have to remind her to slow down or the result isn't so pretty. She loves to climb all over things, especially her Dad. She is especially into sitting on chairs or the couch. We found this little stump while snapping some pictures and I couldn't believe how long she sat there. Someone wants to be a big girl.

Annie is getting the hang of babbling. She has never been much of a talker but the gabbing is really starting to kick in and we love it. Of course her words are hard for any one else to understand and mostly consist of one or two sounds. She says: Dada, Dah (which she uses for dolly, dog or duck), Mah (more or milk), Is it? (whenever she points to a new object), Up and most recently Uh Oh. And still... no Mama. I told her it would be the perfect Mothers Day gift. We will see if she performs, probably not. We absolutely love hearing her talk. We can practically see the wheels turning as we teach her more words.

Annie has started throwing fits when you do something she doesn't like. But together we are learning to cope. The biggest key for me is to remember to explain why she can't have something, surprisingly it usually works. And if not, I just have to remember that she will survive. For a few weeks I was really frustrated but we are working through things. Each word she learns helps significantly.

Her "tricks" continue to crack us up. Her "one" trick is by far her favorite. She pretty much does it any time you say her name. When we put her shoes on and say lets go bye-bye she walks to the door. When James leaves for work she stands with her chin in the air and lips pierced - ready for "kisses." My favorite is that she is starting to pick up on social interactions. She understands laughter. Whenever you laugh she makes a fake giggle. When the congregation laughs during church Annie will laugh too. She has also learned to clap after doing a trick to encourage us to say "yay" and clap. She is getting quite good at singing time with me. She does popcorn popping with her hands and turns her arms in a circle to do wheels on the bus, thanks to Nana Staples. She loves performing her tricks and gets rather upset if you don't watch. We may have a performer on our hands.

About a week after her birthday we stopped nursing all together. She was just doing a moonlight feeding and after sleeping right through it for two days straight I just held to my guns. Annie didn't even notice. I am, of course, a little sad to let nursing go. It was such a special thing for us and most importantly, I knew she was getting perfect nutrition. She drinks some whole milk, some almond milk and a green smoothie throughout the day. She drinks from a sippy cup with a straw and will even down it like a bottle at night sometimes. We actually just stopped whole milk for the past two days. She is having some digestion upsets and we are hoping to kick them here soon. Wish us luck!

She eats three times a day with one snack in between. Sometimes we let her nibble here and there a little too much and I am trying to really in force sitting down for meal times, but it is hard when we are on the go. We still love the plum pouches and just might eat them till she graduates from high school, half kidding of course. We tried our first peanut butter and honey sandwich this week. She only takes a few tiny nibbles but seems to like it.

She is sleeping a solid 11-12 hours at night and then two naps during the day that are anywhere from an hour to 2 hours. She wakes up so happy. On the weekends, James and I fight over who gets to open the door when she wakes up. It is the best.

That being said, we have had several rough nights in the last two weeks. Digestion problems. And maybe cutting some teeth? The mystery of parenting. I am learning it is constant.

We had her 12 month appointment last week and James was able to come. I switched to a female doctor and am extremely happy with my decision. She listens and goes over any aspect of parenting we want to cover. We talked about screen time, toys, tantrums, eating and weight.  Annie only weighs 17 pounds, which puts her in the exact same percentile that she was in at birth. Crazy! My doctor doesn't even bat an eye or have a conversation about it. "She's just petite." We fill out a bubble sheet of questions about her milestones and Annie is doing great. It was a very happy visit!

In the last couple of months our playgroup friends have started to notice how resilient Annie is.  This girl loves playing with the big kids. Her legs often look like this ^^^ with scrapes and bruises. She tumbles quite a bit and will usually roll over with leaves and sticks covering her back. Most times she doesn't even cry. Truly, I don't know where she comes from. I am the polar opposite. But I can't help but love those scraped and bruised legs. The perfect sign of a playful toddler, no?

Let me just repeat the cliche one more time, I can't believe she's one. We are absolutely ga-ga for this girl. As James says multiple times a day, "she's pretty cool." Love this Annie Bananie.

Southern Belle Picnic Party Part II

We held the party on the North side of Park Road Park. It overlooks a pretty lake and, like the rest of the Queen City, is filled with gorgeous green tree's. We set up a fun table with the goods to pack a sack lunch to enjoy on a blanket in the sun. Ann created a fun flower centerpiece and we all got to work setting up the party before our friends arrived. 

We borrowed corn hole from our dear friends Julia and Dave. We were first introduced to the traditional Southern game last summer - the first weekend we arrived in Charlotte. James loves it! I hope that one day we have our own set in a backyard to remind us of our southern days. As we were setting up I looked over and saw this little scene. These two had been playing this game for about 20 minutes. In and out and in and out. 

I made, what James has coined "Karly's Trademark Cookies." I wish I could take the credit for this amazing sugar cookie recipe but it is actually passed down several generations through our family. I love making it for big events because it is a fun reminder of my heritage. They are always a hit. 

The Fishes arrived first and I couldn't resist capturing this moment. Sweet Beckett loves Annie and is always talking to her. "Come on Annie" or "Careful Annie." Although we insisted no one bring presents he brought her a little something and waltzed right up to her and handed it over. It was the sweetest little interaction. Fish + Barker wedding 2030? 

Annie's other little friends started trickling in. Everyone loves "baby Annie." We have another friend named Annie and I love that they have all coined her separately. Henry looks so grown up in this picture. He melts me. The Colemans, Phillips, Mosses, Fishes, Gabrielsons, Stoys, Burgons and Faleschinis all came. Why don't I have pictures of everyone, especially Annie's friends? 

 As James and I talked about the party later we felt so blessed to have gotten to know these great people (and so, so many more - wish we could have had everyone come. Really, truly.). This is the third place we have lived as a couple and we have decided that it takes a good year before you really feel at home. And we are there. Our ward, community and James' coworkers have been so great to us. I don't know how I could have survived this past year without all of these people. I am still laughing about the time Annie had a diaper rash and I had a bunch of them over. The first time parent in me had her stripped down naked and was laying her on a towel - it was a tiny diaper rash. Oh my, these people have put up with a lot from me. And these kiddos. They love "baby Annie!" She toddles after them and admires their every move.

Annie's first cupcake came from Gygi's Cupcake Shop. We couldn't really get the candle to light in the wind but we sang nonetheless and Annie clapped. The girl had barely tasted sugar before this puppy. She was in heaven. Although a bit hesitant at first, she went to town once she had a little taste. Our darling friend Mia loves to watch over Annie like she is her Mother. She patiently sat in front of Annie and every time she'd knock it over Mia would set it right back up. I was amazed that Mia didn't just pick it up and take a snitch of the cupcake herself. She was so polite and wanted Annie to have her moment. Luckily, I had an extra cupcake on hand that we were able to share with Mia for being so sweet.

The Burgons have a little girl named Paige that is just a few months older than Annie and they are practically the same size. Since Annie is such a peanut, this is pretty rare. We love watching these two tiny girls play together. Wish I had more pictures of all the kids.

Annie went from snack to snack and stole everyones food - just as I imagined she would. She is such a little eater and especially when it comes to other peoples food. Girlfriend had tons of junk food on her birthday. Oh boy did she ever. 

My favorite part of the party was that everyone lingered and enjoyed the gorgeous day. In fact, the next day everyone was a bit sun kissed. I don't think we all realized how long we were out there. The kids ran around, played corn hole and even captured James and tied him to a tree. The parents hung out on blankets on the grass (why didn't I take more pictures?) and chatted for quite some time. One by one everyone left as the toddlers grew tired and nap time persisted. 

I cannot thank everyone enough for coming and for being there for us since last July. These people and this city have definitely shaped Annie's first year of life. We love you all.

After everyone left and the cars were packed we decided to take a little walk around the pond. This park is stunning. I was so glad Lizzie and Ann could be there to enjoy it all with us. That drive from D.C. is pretty brutal and we put them to work with the party. I am sure they were exhausted! We loved having them be a part of this with us.

One of Annie's first words is "Daahh" aka Dog (it can also work as Dolly - depending on her surroundings, you know how this goes). When we saw this dog she could hardly contain herself. Yes, my friends, that would be my child waltzing right up to a dog 5 times her size and planting a big wet one on his nose. Thankfully this was a very nice dog.

I wish I had video of this little shoulder ride. Annie adores her Dad. The giggles were worth a million dollars. 

Just before we left the park Annie curled up on my shoulder and gave me this big long love. James grabbed his phone and snapped a picture. I know these one-year-old parties are kind of silly. (I already covered my thoughts on the matter back here). I know they won't remember these things but this little love kind of gave me a different outlook on the whole thing. I think she knew it was a different day. It was a day to celebrate her and regardless of how lavish or un-lavish the party was, she had a good time. And she felt special. 

We came home and crashed on the living room floor while Annie ran circles around us. The girl never stops! There is something about a post-party crash. It is the best! I just felt like the day clicked. In my mind it was simply perfect. Gorgeous weather, wonderful company and vibrant birthday party. Most importantly the birthday girl was vivacious and excited! I hope she experienced a little bit of that party magic.

We took a zillion, bajillion pictures, we adored, we smashed cake, we sang and we went a bit over the top. I'd say it was a first time parent success story.

A Southern Belle Picnic Part I

I am dragging these birthday posts out as much as possible - because it just deserves it. Nana Barker and Aunt Lizzie made the trek down for the big day. We sure are glad they came. Not sure how I could have pulled it all off without them. On Saturday we woke up bright and early with Annie. She spent a few minutes snuggling in bed with Mom and Dad. By snuggling I mostly mean climbing. We dressed her in her special birthday dress and "pixie pony," per Dads request.

Annie was obsessed with the bag her cupcake came in. I let her waltz around carrying it and we declared her a girly girl on the spot. The handbag obsession has already started. This obsession can stay for awhile, seeing as this particular bag was free and disposable. Two of Mom's favorite things.

 Nana B. gave her a few special birthday surprises. Thank goodness for her grandparents spoiling her already!

Annie had quite the obsession with Aunt Lizzie. I am telling you, she started kissing her the second she walked in the door. 

Before we headed out to the park to set up we snapped a few family pictures. As you can see, it is pretty hard to get us all looking at once. But these pictures are priceless to me. She was a total ham that morning and I was certain she knew it was her big day. James insisted we all circle around her and sing Happy Birthday. And we did. She bounced up and down and wondered what on earth was going on. As I expected, James was a little skeptical of this whole birthday party business for a one-year-old. But the morning of he was all in. Like 150% in. It was Annie's day and we all delighted in her every - first child move. Oh boy are we first time parents here.